Certified organic. The entry-level white wine at Frisach—abrunet means ‘swallow,’ the birds that grace the landscape; it represents youth and freshness for the domaine. Young-vines Vernatxa (20 year-old parcels), on iron-rich, calcareous clay at 390m above sea level. They do two passes through the vineyard for this wine, an earlier one to maintain freshness, and a later one for phenolic ripeness. Pressed and given around 12 hours’ skin contact before spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel. Aged 3.5 months on the fine lees in stainless steel. Bottled with no additions; zero SO2.
Certified organic. The entry-level red wine at Frisach—abrunet means ‘swallow,’ the birds that grace the landscape; it represents youth and freshness for the domaine. 60% Garnatxa, 40% Carinyena, coming from two different parcels: a 26 year-old Garnatxa vineyard, 425 msl, on top of a windy ridge; soils are petrified sand dunes (panal) and iron-rich calcareous clay. The other vineyard is 31 year-old Carinyena, 330 msl, on rocky calcareous clay. The different microclimates ripen Garnatxa and Carinyena together so they can be co-fermented in underground cement vats, called trulls, which Francesc’s grandparents built. Must is retrieved bucket by bucket, pressed and transferred to the next vat, where it ages on the fine lees 5 months. Bottled with no additions; zero SO2.
Certified Organic. 50% Garnatxa Gris, 30% Garnatxa Blanca, 20% Garnatxa Negra. Planted on calcareous clay at 400 meters above sea level. All the grapes for their rosat comes from a single vineyard and are harvested together at the same time. Picked, destemmed/crushed and macerated together for 24 hours before then being pressed off. Only the free run juice is used for the rosat. Native yeast fermentation in stainless steel. Bottled with no additions including sulfur.
Certified Organic. Drawn from a special thirty year-old single vineyard of bush-trained Vernatxa; soils are iron-rich, highly calcareous clay, planted at an elevation of 290m. The wine is destemmed, skin-fermented for two weeks, fermented and aged for at least nine to twelve months in neutral barriques. Unfined, unfiltered, no SO2 added. ‘La Foradada’ means ‘the Forgotten One’—the wine is an homage to Francesc and Joan’s grand- and great-grandfathers, who lived and worked and did viticulture in this village; this is the type of white wine that Francesc imagines was likely made off Vernatxa in that era. It's an elegant version of maceration and indeed doesn’t look ‘orange’ at all, but rather carries the lovely herbal and mineral notes, as well as texture, for which this grape variety is rightly celebrated.
Certified organic. 40% Vernatxa Fina (red), 20% Vernatxa Peluda, 20% Carinyena. ‘The blood of the crow:’ a tribute to the family and town’s ancestors who shed blood in the vineyards of Corbera d’Ebre, during clashes with Franco’s troops marching on Barcelona. These varieties are co-planted in a special one-hectare vineyard planted in 1945, the ‘Dellà del Riu;’ the vines are surrounded by apple, almond, and olive trees. The grapes are co-fermented, to continue the reference to this historical style of planting grapes and making wine. Aged one year in 300L barrels, minimal SO2 at bottling. Francesc considers this red the closest to their home region’s history.
Certified organic. 30 year-old vines of Vernatxa, the most important white variety in the appellation of Terra Alta. This is the wine from Frisach that strikes the most like Chablis: textured, very sandy and saline, with a good outline of brisk acidity keeping it tense; it’s absolutely ageworthy. Soils are all petrified sand dunes (panal) at 400 msl; these are very windy sites. Skin-fermented for roughly three days to one week, though it does not read as a macerated wine at all, then aged six months in 500L oak barrels. No filtration, small amount of SO2 just before bottling.
Certified organic. 100% Vernatxa Gris. 65 year-old bush-trained Vernatxa Gris, from a single vineyard called “Lo Mas del Surdo:” soils are fully panal, or petrified sand dunes, at 450 msl. The grapes are hand-harvested and placed whole-cluster into tank. They are then lightly foot-trod and left to ferment and age on skins for 30 days. The wine is racked off the skins/pomace, then aged on the lees for at least seven months. This wine is one of the more elegant, structured, vibrant orange wines we know, definitely ageworthy. Temp i pells – time and skins. No fining, filtration, or added SO2.
Certified organic. The newest and one of only two single-vineyard red wines in the Frisach lineup, 100% Carinyena from the oldest vineyard in the Ferré family holdings: a single parcel of 85+ year-old vines, bush-trained. The grapes re fermented whole-cluster and left on skins and stems for one month. Élevage is split between 225L old barrels and concrete tank. Unfined, unfiltered, zero added SO2. Francesc calls this “the Poulsard of Catalonia”—hazy, scrubby, with dried berry fruit, wine with an old soul and ethereal body. Only one or two barrels produced each year.